Apple Giving Free iPhone 8 for Beta Testing: Scam

Story:

BEST NEWS FOR APPLE FANS *

Tim Cook Apple CEO has announced Free Apple 8 iphone to test its beta features for first 2000 orders.yes you heard it right , you get apple iphone 8 absolutely free.Hurry up only 1200 phones left , I have successfully ordered one iphone 8 now.You to order it free from apple official site http://apple.com-offer.org?tim

Apple Giving Free iPhone 8 for Beta Testing

Analysis:

A message doing rounds on WhatsApp, also appearing on few other sites online, comes to offer readers that Apple CEO Tim Cook has announced Free Apple 8 iPhones for first 2000 orders, for testing its beta features. The message carries a link (said to be Apple’s official site) wherefrom readers can allegedly order their free iPhone 8. Do not get carried away, the free iPhone 8 offer is simply a Scam.

Screenshot of offer website

The message circulating on WhatsApp claims that you can get apple iPhone 8 absolutely free by ordering it from the official site of Apple apple.com-offer.org?tim mentioned at end. However, the website URL does not belong to Apple, and has Apple.com written vaguely on top left. It also carries a non-existent fake Tweet of Apple CEO Tim Cook announcing 2000 free Apple 8 iPhones for beta testing.

Screenshot of Twitter message

When we tested and clicked through the link mentioned in WhatsApp message on web version, and followed the steps, we were asked to send invite to at least 10 friends and 5 groups on WhatsApp (allegedly to increase Apple marketing) before getting the iPhone 8 for free. After done that we were taken to surveys and other advertising stuff, also requiring personal information. In past there were similar scams like Apple Giving away Free iPhone and Flipkart’s Best Selling Moto G4 Plus for Only Rs 599. Note that the messages can surface in different versions, with different links, and in some cases, the user can be misled into installing malware on user’s phone, which in turn may also steal his contacts and other information from phone. There won’t be any free iPhone to offer for beta testing.

Screenshot of Scam ProcessScreenshot of Scam ProcessScreenshot of Scam ProcessScreenshot of Scam Process

So we suggest users not to get carried with these false offers and not to pass on the messages to WhatsApp contacts, which is how the scam spreads further. As you can see in Related Stories section below, messages asking to ‘share with your contacts to get something free’ have been a common tactic of cyber criminals targeting to scam users on the widely popular free messaging app.